I am buying the least amount of product for almost any time, coming out of 2013 where I bought nearly nothing.

I still track down older toys I want duplicates of or something on eBay / Amazon now.

General Grievous from SSC and the Amazon Hasbro Slave-One are several recent highlights for me.

I've barely had interest in The Black Series. I want more never-made-before-characters and new vehicles.

I don't plan to buy Rebels but I'll purchase their vehicles.

I also collect Transformers and there's been a product here or there that I find interesting. Voyager 3-changer Springer stands out with Blitzwing as satisfying purchases. The new movie product has a lot of misses for a (somewhat) respectable amount of hits. I'll wait and see how it goes in person. The boxy Prime is a no-go this time around. How could they do that to Optimus?

On the Terminator front, I got one Kyle Reese figure from NECA (spelling?) I wish there was more product coming. In 1/6 scale as well.

For Star Trek, I got Spock with the Horta last year. I like the figure diorama line (well, have the regular versions of Kirk and Khan so I didn't buy that set). I'm not interested in television TNG really, so I have to wait and see if they make other dioramas I'm interested in. I think there is finally going to be a Defiant ship in the size I want. And I'm considering those highly articulated (and muscled) Kirk and Spock 2009-2013 figures (of Chris and Zach) though they're "SSC expensive" but by this Japanese company. I really would like to see the line include some aliens though.

02-27-2014

Lord Malakite

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tycho

I am buying the least amount of product for almost any time, coming out of 2013 where I bought nearly nothing.

Welcome to the club. I haven't bought much of anything collector wise in some time now. The only real collector's item I have purchased of recent was the 20th Anniversary Power Rangers Legacy DVD set. Kind of pricey at a $650 lump sum purchase, but figured why not. The set is limited to only 2000 copies. Not counting the included four 12”x18” lithograph posters, a 100 page booklet, six DVDs of bonus content, the ten collector power coin DVD wallet/tins, and the collector Red Ranger helmet bust/DVD shelf; broken down the cost of the set averages about $32.50 per season (not bad considering a single season is between 22 to 60 half-hour episodes). I also had a little extra incentive to purchase the set that I normally wouldn't have. Brian Ward (of Shout! Factory) showed up in several of the Power Ranger message boards that I visit asking for help in making the set what it is. My contributions weren't big enough to get specific mention in the DVD set's credits by name, but I did get to BS & submit ideas on a regular basis with Ward via his Twitter (still am BSing with him on a regular basis). I also added a few of my ideas (mainly Disney's older bonus stuff) for bonus content to the "finalized wishlist" (before it was locked out to prevent just anyone from editing) that those Power Rangers message boards later submitted and they did make it onto the the final product. I imagine had I not mentioned those bonus features someone else would have for inclusion eventually, but it does make me feel like I did help make the DVD set what it is in some respect when I was the one to put them on the submitted wishlist. Oh, in case anyone reading this is wondering out of curiosity, my set was #85 out of 2000. :)

02-28-2014

Bel-Cam Jos

I have thought I have become "old" more lately, as my desire to collect toys has waned quite a bit. Books, music, video: sure. But action figures and playsets are just not in my wheelhouse anymore.

02-28-2014

bigbarada

Not much for me to look forward to when it comes to Star Wars collecting in 2014. Even some stuff that I would normally be super excited by (the 6" Biker Scout with Speeder Bike and Darth Vader) just feels so "been there, bought that." The change in scale is not enough to overcome the feeling that I've already purchased these toys in multiple scales already (3.75" and 12"). I'm not going to rule out buying them, but it's going to greatly depend on how they look in person.

Some of the new characters from Rebels seem promising and I'm looking forward to the show. I'm expecting something along the same lines as the Droids and Ewoks cartoons, so my expectations aren't super high. Not sure if I'll buy any of the figures yet, though.

I do feel that I'm kind of moving away from toy collecting a bit. I've been really enjoying collecting the All-New X-Men comic book over the last 2 years and I think that has a lot to do with my diminished interest in Star Wars. It's the first comic book series that I have truly enjoyed since 1991. As a result, I'm finding myself buying more O5 (internet shorthand for the Original 5 X-Men, currently known as the All-New X-Men) related merchandise than anything else right now.

In fact, I've spent over $450 on X-Men related merchandise in just the last 5 months. That's counting statues, toys, posters, variant comic book covers, etc. That's not even including the cost of collecting the comics themselves. To put that in perspective, I've spent only about $64 on new Star Wars merchandise in 2013 and 2014 combined. So, it seems pretty clear that Star Wars is being replaced by something that I believe I actually like even more.

As for other stuff, I'm interested in a lot of the Funko/Super7 ReAction toys, so I might pick up a few of those this year. Also, collecting music is something that has always been around for me. It's just cheaper, easier and much more convenient now that I've switched to digital music. Right now I'm mostly interested in digging up some of the 1970s and 80s electronic music that I haven't discovered yet.

03-06-2014

Tycho

Batman is an example of a genre I really like but do not collect.

However, it might be pretty limited to the hero and various super-villains like Joker and Bayne.

Even after I'd clamor for an "Alfred" and "Lucius Fox" action figure set, maybe Gotham Police and Prisoner army builder figures, there's not so much to make.

Star Wars is a whole universe.

I understand that Darth Vader always needs to be available. "He's Batman" to the SW line - with a core set of (an even larger amount of about 25-40 cast member stereotypes).

But the universe is so vast and varied that Padme's other outfits and Cliegg Lars, as well as Expanded Universe LEADS like Zayne Carrick can be fit in.

The Black Series did not need so many troop-builders with little variation to them up front. All kinds of white armor up the wazzoo.

Biggs Darklighter is great, but timing him with an X-wing toy (maybe he was?) would be smarter.

Padme - I already made the case about.

In any case, I could be crying about nothing. We're getting Doaylln and Torryn Far. Some figures I've wanted for a long time.

I'm just impatient waiting for them and Darth Plageuis has not been easy to find.

03-06-2014

JediTricks

Star Wars - this line is killing my interest so hard. Hasbro is on life support, year after year they promise improvements and year after year it gets worse. Sideshow has priced me out. I'm very particular about other brands, Koto seems to be the closest for me but they simply don't do that many items per year so it's very niche.

Transformers - this was my other big line, and Hasbro has choked it nearly to death. The new product mostly looks bad, the last year has been painful to collect with such distribution problems and the creeping cheapness, and now IDW has essentially ruined the comic books that were going so well.

Star Trek - this was already in a downward spiral but the new movies seem to have cemented failure here as well.

Batman and DC - life support for collectibles, New52 has ruined the comics, and worse, DC is canceling my favorite Batman title, Batman '66.

I want to be excited, but the high prices of collectibles coupled with the relative sloppiness leads me to feel quite ripped off most of the time, and not engaged. The collecting communities are crumbling. Rebels doesn't look that great yet. And as for Ep 7, I have no faith at all that this will be good.

03-06-2014

El Chuxter

I'm still looking hard for Darth Plagueis. I love the guy. Some may disagree, but his being retconned into TPM redeemed the prequels for me. I haven't been this excited about a Star Wars figure in ages. If the upcoming stuff actually hits, there's a few I want, but, at $10+, I'm much pickier.

Transformers have slipped quality-wise, but there's still stuff worth getting excited about. I've heard iffy things about Dark Cybertron, but have faith that it should pick back up afterward (though I have no idea how more female Transformers can exist given Arcee's origin, and their introduction retroactively makes Chromedome and Rewind officially the first gay Autobots, which isn't bad, but I preferred the whole "genderless sentient beings form asexual loving partnerships" angle their relationship had). A little sad that RG1 is ending, but I knew it was coming, and a proper ending is better than the rushed one from twenty years ago.

G.I.Joe.... Man, it's been my favorite line for the past few years, but it looks like it's essentially dead for now. Hasbro needs to do something to get it in the minds of kids the way they have with Transformers. I still keep an eye out for the last three Retaliation figures, but have pretty much no real expectations of finding them. At least Night Viper is getting re-released, albeit in different, kinda weird, colors. Which brings me to the joke of a 50th Anniversary line. All TRU exclusives. All re-releases or things that were cancelled. And packed together so you have to get duplicates to get the stuff you couldn't get before or that's retooled slightly. (I don't know about everyone else, but, as much as I want the Night Viper, I'm not crazy about buying a third ****in' Low-Light at TRU's inflated prices. And don't get me started on having to get another VAMP and something like the twentieth Flint to get the damned Night Landing that was cancelled last year.)

G.I.Joe's comics are spotty as well. Hama's A Real American Hero is as solid as ever, but the new IDW-verse that should be the backbone of the line is wretched. It's not only bad, but I honestly think the writer has read none of the IDW stuff that came before and the editor doesn't care.

Fables is ending soon, and American Vampire soon after. I might check out the Rocket Raccoon and Silver Surfer series, both of which look interesting. Other than that, it might just be Atomic Robo and its painfully inconsistent trade paperback schedule (I preordered the latest from both Robo series in December, one with a December 11 release date, and the other a February somethingth release, and haven't got either yet).

Unfortunate to hear Batman 66 is getting cancelled. Damn, the first collection hasn't even come out. I tried reading the first on Comixology when it was free, and absolutely hated the quasi-motion comic setup. Too bad; it sounded really promising.

03-06-2014

JediTricks

I still don't understand why Rewind and Chromedome are a problem, how can they be "gay" if they're genderless, which they still are technically? It's Arcee and the fembots who are forced to be genders, Simon Furman wrote IDW into a corner on that and I'm really not sure how they'll talk their way out of it, but I'm curious to see them try. Unfortunately, the kabuki makeup on Windblade is so ridiculous a choice that I have more problems there than her gender. But I guess it's true that Rewind and Chromedome were always really dudes, that's just the reality of TF, they are a boys toy line and the fiction and product reflect that.

What, Batman '66 had motion comic in digital form? I hadn't heard that, there should be a way to turn it off, it's a great series and I love every issue, it's very clever and fun, and it stands alone, no continuity requirements. But sales have been steadily declining, although those were print sales but I suspect digital sales are not making up for that, because it looks like it won't make it beyond issue 12.

03-07-2014

Tycho

Transformers could be interesting:

1) Robotic life didn't begin as robotic life.

2) On another DYING organic planet, beings learned how to preserve their memories and summation of experiences into computer memories.

3) They built machine bodies that could survive the search for - or winds up the construction of - a new homeworld (Cybertron since the surviving cybernetic beings built it.

4) That way, if Optimus is killed, a real sentient is lost. But if a drone dies - no harm really.

5) But Cybertron was eventually going to lose power - perhaps it was solar powered and its sun was winking out? They needed new energy sources to power their world and their reproduction (perhaps through cloning what could be preserved of their original organic material (hence the sack-like semi-organic creatures seen on The Fallen's ship / base in the movie).

6) The All-Spark gave life only to drones really. It was a power source.

7) The Primes are special because they were the ones originally organic-based. Robots which have been active for huge lengths of time also accumulate personalities that are a tragedy to lose - non-Primes like Ironhide maybe?

8) Hidden Primes are ones who have access to stored vessels from organic origins - why Primes are special. They can fight with intuition (an organic trait to make a leap of faith or exert passion about a cause). Even long-time-service 'bots don't show all those characteristics.

9) The war between civilian and military models, and also over usurping earth's energy resources, can be returned to the franchise like it was in the G1 cartoons.

This theory, might also explain why there are "female bots." They might have been programmed to behave that way to remind the last sentients preserving their own lives, of those important to them that are now lost.

They were mammalian in their past lives, hence why the fem-bots' look - and Arcee.

This could mean that there will be no female Primes - or that perhaps Elita-One is a Prime?

Also, while there are not "gay-bots," Optimus Prime's "parents" - keepers of the Matrix - could both be males who donated genetic material to actually "birth" another Prime (cloned organic brain).

Even Hot Rod could be a secret vessel of this circumstance.

OK - I'd like this science-fiction versus just making Transformers fantasy - such as created by the All-Spark.

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The new movie or Masterpiece and/or new Classics will some day yield something I want. I've listed things like MP Cyclonus before, so I don't need to give you my list here (and don't expect you would care anyway).

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Star Wars Rebels seems to be a possible bore to me. It's "another adventure in the SW universe." To me, if Talon Karrde were animated, it would be interesting since I have more invested in that established EU character - but it would not be interesting to many of you.

I don't have room for more toys and have other expenses, though I ordered expensive stuff like the Hoth Probot from SSC which I'll be charged for someday.

I'd be "priced out" of some SSC stuff, save for the fact that I'm barely buying anything toy-wise, so it's not a big deal to lay out for an expensive piece. I'm really happy with my SSC Gen. Grievous.

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Star Trek Into Darkness had mostly all human characters. There are some ships like Spock's 2009 movie probe ship and Khan's assassination vessel he used ITTD. But if a figure line could be made, it should include smaller ships for the figures to go in (like SW) and The Dominion War (DS9) is the best source for material - plus you need to have bad guys for "war action play," and that's not what Star Trek was made to be all about. But DS9 stayed very close to / true to Star Trek's original style, save for they gave it a war, and less exploration missions. That Dominion War needed to happen. The Trek universe has too many cool elements to not take them into battle.
And war stories are stories, too.

But aliens and bad-guy figures and ships are the only way to make it "fun" as a toy line.

03-07-2014

El Chuxter

Quote:

Originally Posted by JediTricks

I still don't understand why Rewind and Chromedome are a problem, how can they be "gay" if they're genderless, which they still are technically? It's Arcee and the fembots who are forced to be genders, Simon Furman wrote IDW into a corner on that and I'm really not sure how they'll talk their way out of it, but I'm curious to see them try. Unfortunately, the kabuki makeup on Windblade is so ridiculous a choice that I have more problems there than her gender. But I guess it's true that Rewind and Chromedome were always really dudes, that's just the reality of TF, they are a boys toy line and the fiction and product reflect that.

I've never understood the demand for female Transformers. Yes, there are female fans. But these are robots. Gender implies sexual reproduction, which the Transformers don't do. It's not fanboys being sexist by using masculine pronouns; English lacks a gender-neutral pronoun. That's all it is. I'd be fine with using "she" to describe Transformers who look feminine, but it goes beyond that. I apparently am in a minority in that I liked Arcee's IDW origin. It explains why there's one female. Not dozens. And she isn't insane because she's a girl; you really have to look for sexism to come to that conclusion.

But, yeah, two genders, so Chromedome and Rewind are gay now. No problem with it, just thought it made more sense that they were a gender-neutral couple.